Mount Holly annexes Duke property

Friday

Apr 4, 2014 at 12:01 AMApr 4, 2014 at 4:22 PM

Duke Energy land that houses a retired steam station will finally be inside Mount Holly city limits — 14 years after the plan was agreed to. The delay was intentional, said Kemp Michael, Mount Holly city attorney.

Lauren Baheri

Duke Energy land that houses a retired steam station will finally be inside Mount Holly city limits — 14 years after the plan was agreed to. The delay was intentional, said Kemp Michael, Mount Holly city attorney.

The town has brought in around $2 million from Duke since 2002 — a payment to make up for property taxes Mount Holly would have gotten with the steam station inside its boundaries. And Mount Holly is now making moves to annex another nearby Duke Energy property that houses the dam and powerhouse.

Negotiations started in 1999 between the city and Duke Energy. It was agreed the city would annex the steam station, but it wouldn’t do so immediately.

While most annexations take effect in six months or so, Duke and Mount Holly agreed to delay the effective date until June 30, 2014.

During that time, however, Duke would pay Mount Holly in lieu of the property taxes the city would receive.

“We collected a very substantial amount over that period of time,” Michael said.

In addition to the retired steam station, the city will also annex an ash pond at the center of recent controversy. The ash pond is a pit full of wet coal ash, the byproduct of coal burned at power plants. It contains contaminants such as mercury, cadmium and arsenic as well as minerals such as silicon, aluminum, iron and calcium. According to the EPA, the contaminants can cause significant health concerns if they somehow seep into groundwater and drinking water sources.

The pond is five miles upstream from the site where Gastonia and Mount Holly collect drinking water. Recently, Duke Energy proposed moving the waste to the Charlotte Douglas Airport and burying in a lined and capped enclosure.

Town officials say just because they’ve agreed to annex the land doesn’t mean the city is responsible for the ash pond.

“The city doesn’t have any oversight or responsibility to the ash pile,” Michael said. “That’s obviously involving all those folks working though that already.”

In another part of the agreement, Mount Holly was given the option to annex a lot that houses the Duke Energy dam and powerhouse.

Mount Holly chose to take Duke up on that offer. That annexation will become effective June 30, as well.

The city will also rezone both pieces of land as heavy industrial zones.

You can reach reporter Lauren Baheri at 704-869-1842 or Twitter.com/lbaheri.

What’s Mount Holly taking on?

5 acres along Horseshoe Bend Beach Road

340 acres that include the Riverbend steam station

22.77 acres that include the dam/powerhouse

89.71 acres between N.C. 16 and the Stone Water Bay subdivision that includes a public boat landing along Eddie Nichols Drive.